The disclosed technology broadly relates to the management of voicemail messages and, more particularly relates to visual techniques for managing voicemail messages.
Visual voicemail—the use of visual techniques to manage voicemail messages—adds a visual aspect to phone voicemail. For example visual voicemail allows users to view a list of audio voicemail entries on a display screen inbox that includes visual indicators specifying whether the messages are new, urgent, saved, not yet heard, etc. The iPhone™ by Apple, Inc. is a multimedia smartphone with a multi-touch screen and a virtual keyboard rendered by the multi-touch screen that provides, among other features, visual voicemail. On the iPhone™, visual voicemail lets you see a list of your messages and choose which ones to listen to or delete, without having to listen to prior messages or instructions.
Conventionally, visual voicemail clients synchronize with a voicemail platform to update the status of messages between the client and voicemail platform. Messages currently are deleted from the displayed inbox and moved into a deleted messages folder. Where there are no deleted messages, there is no deleted messages folder displayed. FIG. 1 depicts a visual voicemail screenshot where only one voicemail message is listed. There are no deleted messages and therefore no deleted messages folder presented/displayed. FIG. 2 depicts a visual voicemail screenshot where several voicemail messages are listed, including a deleted messages folder in which deleted messages are stored prior to system deletion by the visual voicemail platform.
Subscribers use the deleted messages folder as secondary storage for old messages (they have the messages out of the displayed inbox). At that point in time, the subscriber believes that the messages that are in the deleted folder messages are in fact deleted. However, the messages in the deleted folder can be recovered from the deleted messages folder and placed back into the voicemail inbox. Messages stored in the deleted messages folder remain on the voicemail platform until they expire due to age, typically in 30 days. These expired messages are then synchronized between the visual voicemail client and voicemail platform by being deleted from both places. This current method places a burden on the voicemail platform as it is has to store messages that will be deleted as they expire due to age.